Meeting Profile

For thirty-one years, our mission has been to provide state-of-the-art information on breast cancer research.  From a one-day regional conference the symposium has grown to a four-day program attended by a broad international audience of academic and private researchers and physicians from over 80 countries.

The symposium aims to achieve a balance of clinical, translational, and basic research, providing a forum for interaction, communication, and education for a broad spectrum of researchers, health professionals, and those with a special interest in breast cancer.

In 2007, the Cancer Therapy & Research Center (CTRC) at UT Health Science Center San Antonio and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) announced a collaboration for the future of the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.  The symposium has been renamed the CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.  Complementing the clinical strengths of the highly regarded annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, the AACR's scientific prestige in basic, translational and clinical cancer research will create a unique and comprehensive scientific meeting that will advance breast cancer research for the benefit of patients.

In 2005, Baylor College of Medicine became a joint sponsor of the symposium and will remain in the CTRC-AACR collaboration.

Charles A. Coltman, Jr., MD, Professor of Medicine, UT Health Science Center, President Emeritus, Cancer Therapy & Research Center and C. Kent Osborne, MD, Director, Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine remain Co-Directors of the symposium.

Symposium Objective

The objective of the SABCS is to provide state-of-the-art information on the experimental biology, etiology, prevention, diagnosis, and therapy of breast cancer and premalignant disease, to an international audience of academic and private physicians and researchers.

Target Audience

This international symposium is directed primarily towards academic and private physicians and researchers involved in breast cancer in medical, surgical, gynecologic, and radiation oncology, as well as other appropriate health care professionals.

Individuals searching for breast cancer treatment information, help line, support groups, etc., please visit the website of Susan G. Komen for the Cure at www.komen.org.

Symposium Administration

All administrative functions of the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium occur in the symposium operations office, which is located at University Plaza Building, 7526 Louis Pasteur, Room 121, San Antonio, Texas 78229.

Co-Directors

Charles A. Coltman, Jr, UT Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX

C. Kent Osborne, Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX

Executive Committee

Carlos L. Arteaga, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, TN
Powel H. Brown, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
Joan S. Brugge, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
Gary C. Chamness, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
Charles A. Coltman, Jr., UT Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX
Tyler J. Curiel, UT Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX
Margaret Foti, American Association for Cancer Research, Philadelphia, PA
Anand B. Karnad, UT Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX
C. Kent Osborne, Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
Rajeshwar Rao Tekmal, UT Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX

Program Coordinator

Gary C. Chamness, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX

Symposia Director

Rich Markow, UT Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX

Audience Composition

The majority of participants are physicians and researchers, with smaller representation by affiliated health care professionals. The 2007 audience was composed of 44% medical doctors and 11% basic research scientists. Registrations totaled 8,503 and 86 countries (including US and Canada) were represented.

Location

Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, 200 E. Market Street, San Antonio, Texas 78205, is the meeting site.

Accreditation

In 2007, the 30th Annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium was designated for
continuing medical education. Applications for the same or greater amount of credit will be submitted for the 2008 symposium.

Future Meeting Dates

• December 10-13, 2009
• December 9-12, 2010
• December 7-10, 2011

Symposium Contact

Mr. Rich Markow, Symposia Director
UT Health Science Center San Antonio

Continuing Medical Education, MC 8224

7703 Floyd Curl Drive

San Antonio, TX 78229-3900
210-567-6070
210-450-6072 FAX
Email: sabcs@uthscsa.edu
Website Address: www.sabcs.org

The First Annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium was held November 11, 1978 during Breast Cancer Awareness Week, and was part of an intensive 3-year outreach program of public and professional education designed to significantly reduce the death rate caused by breast cancer in San Antonio and surrounding counties. It was sponsored by CTRC and the American Cancer Society, Texas Division, in conjunction with The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) and the Bexar County Medical Society.

That all-day course for physicians and surgeons was organized and co-directed by Charles A. Coltman, Jr., MD and William L. McGuire, MD, both Professors of Medicine at UTHSCSA. It featured invited presentations by a panel of internationally known specialists and was attended by 141 physicians and surgeons from a 5-state area.

Three years later, in 1981, the meeting was expanded to two days, a call for abstracts was distributed worldwide, and proffered papers for slide and poster presentations were incorporated into the program, thereby broadening its scope to both attract and draw from a larger, international base. Renowned experts gave formal plenary lectures, and accepted abstracts were published for the first time in the peer-reviewed journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment. Case discussion lunches offered opportunity for discussion of complex clinical problems in the management of primary and metastatic disease, by a panel of physicians from different disciplines.

Although some modifications have been made in the format, such as incorporating mini-symposia and, in 1997, the prestigious Brinker International Awards for Cancer Research program of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, the overall format remains very much the same. This reflects the objective of the Symposium, which is to provide state-of-the-art information on the experimental biology, etiology, prevention, diagnosis, and therapy of breast cancer and premalignant breast disease, to an international audience of academic and private physicians and researchers.

In 1990, CTRC and UTHSCSA formally entered into a collaboration known as the San Antonio Cancer Institute (an NCI-designated Clinical Cancer Center), which in 1995 assumed direct sponsorship of the Symposium. In 1999, C. Kent Osborne, MD, Co-Director of the symposium left UTHSCSA and opened the Breast Center at Baylor College of Medicine.  In 2005, Baylor College of Medicine bacame a joint sponsor of the symposium. 

In 2007, the CTRC merged with UTHSCSA becoming Cancer Therapy & Research Center at UT Health Science Center.   Also in 2007, the CTRC at UTHSCSA and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) announced a collaboration for the future of the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.  The symposium has been renamed the CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

UT Health Science Center San Antonio Medical School, through the Office of Continuing Medical Education, continues to be the provider of CME sponsorship for this premier breast cancer symposium.

All administrative functions are the responsibility of the Symposia Director and occur in the Symposium operations office, which is located at University Plaza Building, 7526 Louis Pasteur, Room 121, San Antonio, Texas 78229. All proceeds from registration and abstract fees, industry educational grants, and exhibit fees, are used for Symposium development and operations, and for support of its staff which consists of the Symposia Director, the Senior Meeting Planner, the Assistant Meeting Planner and the Administrative Assistant.

In 2007, registrants from the following countries participated.